The crimespree
by Flowerhead101
Summary: When Sheppard activates an Ancient device nothing seems wrong. But when people start getting hurt, the Atlantis team start to investigate. Will they realize what's wrong with Sheppard?
1. Chapter 1

**The crime-spree by Flowerhead101 (aka Angel-agent)**

Disclaimer: I don't own 'em. Not even one.. Still saving up for it though. I'm still optimistic that I'll be able to hire one for a couple of hours when I'm eighty.

A/N: This is my first Stargate Atlantis fanfic. All reviews will be greatly appreciated. Constructive criticism is always welcome. Please keep in mind English isn't my mother tongue, I'm still learning.

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"Hey Sheppard, wait up!" Sheppard turned around and stopped walking to let McKay catch up. When the scientist reached him he started walking again, waiting for him to catch his breath so he could talk again.

"Can you come by my lab this afternoon at two? Zelenka and I found an Ancient device and we'd really like to find out what it does. Don't worry, it probably isn't dangerous or anything."

"Probably?"

"Yes, probably. We still have too much Ancient technology to research to let your ATA-gene go to waste."

"That makes me feel so appreciated."

"So you'll be there?"

"Wouldn't want to miss it."

"You wouldn't since your gonna be the star of the show," McKay muttered as he walked away again. Sheppard pretended he hadn't heard it but grinned when he heard it. He was on his way to reprimand a group of marines who had been caught playing football in the halls and not using too much caution. Some of the scientists had complained.

When he reached the room he'd ordered them to, they all stood to attention. He cleared his throat and started the speech he was supposed to give.

"What you did was completely uncalled for! You could have seriously injured someone with you little stunt. Next time you want to play football, do it outside! The mainland is big enough to not run into someone. Is that understood?"

They answered as one, "yes, Sir!"

"Good! Now ofcourse I need to take some disciplinary actions against you, but I think I have a nice little idea in mind. I'll need some time to work it out though. So for now you're all free to go, but don't think I'll forget! Dismissed."

The new marines seemed to be very confused but the ones who'd served under Sheppard a little longer were very relaxed. One of them said to a particularly uncomfortable newbie "don't worry too much about it. The Colonel always comes up with something strange. He just has to make the right example every now and then. If he would've been there when we started playing, he would've joined us. Relax."

Somehow, it did little to ease the young marine's mind.

Teyla was on her way to the jumper-bay when turned a corner and bumped into Sheppard. They grabbed each other to remain standing. "I'm sorry Teyla, I should've payed attention to where I was walking," Sheppard apologized.

"It's alright Colonel. It's as much your fault as it is mine. Where were you going?"

"If I'm right about where you're going, I'm going there too," he said with a grin when he saw Teyla's confused look. "The jumper-bay," he clarified. "I'm your designated pilot for your flight to the mainland."

"Oh, I had not realized. Are you sure you are not needed elsewhere?"

"Nah, they'll just have to do without me for a while." When he saw Teyla's inquiry look, he added, "Seriously, I don't have to be anywhere until this afternoon when McKay wants to use me as a lab-rat."

Meanwhile they'd arrived in the jumper-bay and started to load all the supplies into jumper one. After five minutes of silent working, Sheppard asked, "what is all this stuff? You're only staying there for two days!"

"Medicines, clothing, general supplies, food. Our last supply run was not sufficient since our supplies were cut short when the Deadalus arrived two weeks late."

"Oh, ok. Well that was the last of it anyways. Let's get going."

When they were ready to leave Sheppard radioed Elizabeth to let her know they were going and that he'd be back within three hours. Teyla would stay and catch up with some friends.

The flight was spent in a comfortable silence, both of them enjoying the beautiful day and scenery. As they arrived a group of Athosians gathered around them, welcoming them and helping them unload.

After a while Sheppard pulled Halling aside, and informed him of the plan he had in mind for the football-playing marines. He asked if Halling would like to join in on his plan with most of the Athosians. He had explained the game to them a few months back and they had all loved it. Halling was enthusiastic of the plan and said he'd be able to round up at least two dozens of people. "Alright! The more the better!" Sheppard replied happily before walking back to Teyla.

"Are you all settled?" he asked her.

"Yes, would you like to stay here and have lunch with us? You're most welcome to."

"No, thank you. McKay's going to expect me soon. I'll grab something in Atlantis. I'll pick you up again they day after tomorrow."

"Ok, goodbye."

"Bye." He said goodbye to the other Athosians as well before going to the jumper. When he was in the air he decided he still had enough time to just fly around a little. He went in an orbit around the planet and did some loops, spins, twist, turns and dives before realizing he now had to hurry if he still wanted to have some lunch before meeting McKay.

When he sat the jumper down in Atlantis, he was immediately radioed by Elizabeth and summoned to her office. 'So much for my lunch,' he thought as he walked up to her office. Elizabeth was waiting for him and greeted him, "Colonel."

"Dr. Weir."

"Our scientists were a little freaked out when there suddenly was a ship appearing on our sensors. Any idea what that ship could've been?" Elizabeth asked with a smile threatening to show on her face.

"Was it about the size of a jumper and doing all kinds of movements?" Sheppard asked, having seen Elizabeth's smile starting to break through. "Cause if that's the case I think I know what it might have been."

"Yes, it was. And the scientists were wondering about the movements." The smile was now clearly showing on her face. "Next time you take a jumper out for some flying, radio us, ok? It will spare someone a small heart-attack."

Sheppard was now smiling as well. "They could've known it was me, seeing as I came from the mainland. But you're right, next time I'll let you know." He looked at his watch and said, "was that all? Cause McKay wants to use me as a guinea-pig and I'm already late."

"Yes, ofcourse. I'll see you later."

"Bye." Sheppard turned around and hurried off. He wasn't exactly running, since that usually meant there was an emergency, but he was walking at a brisk pace. When he turned the corner to McKay's lab he saw McKay standing in the corridor. "You're late," he said with a scowl on his face.

"Yes, but-"

"No but, Sheppard. My time is valuable. Now come on in."

Sheppard wondered why he suddenly felt as if he was back in High School, but followed McKay in without any further argument. McKay walked to a table where Radek Zelenka was typing away on a laptop. He looked up briefly and said hi, before turning to his typing again. Next to the laptop was a cylinder-shaped object, roughly the size of a baseball.

"So that's it, huh? Looks like the Ancients' idea of a ball to me. Maybe just a bit too heavy."

"Yes, well I'm sure the Ancients had more important things to do than playing with a ball. Now if you'd be so kind as to activate it," McKay said, with a hint of impatience in his voice. "Just remember, no immediate activation. Just try to found out what it does."

"Yeah, yeah. I remember." Then Sheppard concentrated on finding out what the small ball did. But as soon as he touched the device a red light appeared and scanned him, concentrating on his head. His eyes were drawn to the bright light, but he heard McKay shout for him to turn it off. He tried, but it didn't work, it didn't listen to his commands at all. After a few more seconds the light suddenly turned off and the device made a loud, painful shrieking sound, giving him a migraine headache. When the shrieking stopped as well Sheppard felt so light-headed he gripped the table to remain standing, but knew it was pointless. His vision was darkening and he felt his strength leave him.

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Thank you everyone who's read it. Please let me know what you think of it and how I could improve it.


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: Still don't own them, but still saving up for it.

A/N: Thank you everyone who has reviewed!! It means a lot to me!

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Sheppard woke up to someone slapping his face and telling him to wake up. He tried to swat the hand away and that seemed to work for a moment, but then the hand started shaking his shoulder. He found that very annoying and mumbled, "alright, ok. I'm awake!"

"Then open your eyes!" He now recognized McKay's voice and it sounded slightly panicked. Sheppard slowly opened his eyes and looked at his surroundings. 'Good, no infirmary tiles,' was what he thought as he tried to get up. McKay pushed him down again though, saying "You fainted. You shouldn't get up yet."

"I passed out McKay, because, do I need to remind you, you told me it was safe to touch that!" he pointed at the fallen device. "Now at least let me sit up." When he was sitting against the wall with the help of McKay, the scientist all the while muttering about the hernia he would sure have and how heavy he actually was, he saw Dr. Beckett walk into the lab. Sheppard looked at McKay and groaned, "tell me I'm imagining Carson standing there."

Carson heard it as well and said, "nope, no imagination. Do ye remember what happened?" In the meantime Carson crouched down next to the Colonel and felt for his pulse which was slightly elevated. "Yes, McKay had me touch that device, a bright red light appeared, disappeared, the device shrieked and I passed out."

"Well, it seems your memory is fine. Can you follow my finger with your eyes?" He did as he was told and everything seemed fine. "Are ye feeling well enough for a walk to the infirmary?"

"But, I just passes all of your tests. There's no need for me to go there!" Sheppard protested.

"Yes, there is. You passed out. You won't have to stay, I just want to draw some blood. And since you passed my tests, I won't have to make any scans or do other unpleasant things. I'll draw the blood and then you're off again. If you promise to contact me if you feel different, that is," Carson reasoned.

It sounded fair to Sheppard as well, all though he was fine since the headache had disappeared as well.

Spots appeared in his eyes when he got up, but they went away again within seconds. Sheppard followed Carson and McKay walked with them as well.

McKay, having come to the conclusion Sheppard was fine, asked, "so… Did you find out what it did?"

Sheppard had an incredulous look on his face when he replied, "no, not really. I don't think it was the intention of the Ancients to make a device that makes you pass out." He then muttered, "God, I can't believe you asked. You still need to work on your social skills. Your bedside-manner is just as bad as Weir's."

"Yes, but I'm sure you're gonna give me lots of time to practice. You seem to have a gift for ending up in the infirmary. If I hadn't seen your Captain Kirk attitude, I'd swear you have an eye on Carson."

Beckett and Sheppard stopped walking, simultaneously saying "Rod-ney!" in a very threatening tone. It went unnoticed by McKay who kept on walking. As soon as he was out of earshot, Carson asked Sheppard, "how the hell have ye managed not to kill him yet?!"

They started walking again when Sheppard replied "I occasionally hit him over the head. And the sparring with Teyla and Ronon helps. But I'll let you in on a little secret. If you really want him to shut up, agree with everything he says. Do that long enough, let's say for ten minutes, and he'll try to figure out why you're agreeing with him, in silence!

He'll be quiet for a few minutes, you do some yoga-thoughts in your head, until he starts saying your sick. Then you say he's probably right and that you felt a bit achy in the morning. You say that if he doesn't stay away from you he'll probably be infected as well." Sheppard grinned, "you should see him running away from you!"

Carson had wide eyes when he replied, "brilliant! How did you come up with that?"

"I've had months of practice on him, remember. It was in my own interest to come up with something."

Carson grinned and said "aye, it probably was. We're here, Colonel. Hop on that bed and I'll grab my equipment."

McKay huffed, "you took your sweet time to get here. Like I said before, my time is valuable."

"You don't have to be here," Sheppard responded. But he knew that Rodney was because he was worried, though not showing it like most people would. He was acting the way he was because he didn't know how else.

McKay didn't reply to his answer and was saved by Carson, who came back with a needle and a couple of vials. He took a tourniquet from his lab coat's pocket, tied it around Sheppard's upper arm and said "Ye know the routine lad." Sadly, he did.

When the blood started flowing McKay went a little white, murmured something about important tests he had to do, and ran off.

Beckett was releasing the tourniquet again after he'd filled two vials and said, "I'll contact ya when I get the results. Now try to stay away from my infirmary for as long as ye can."

Sheppard was already halfway out when he replied "I'll try." The rest of the day went by uneventful. He grabbed a very late lunch, played a couple of games on his laptop, had dinner with Ronon and Lorne and even managed to write some reports.

He went to bed and thought about the things he needed to do the next day before he fell asleep.

He woke up feeling exhausted. He felt as if he hadn't slept at all. He stumbled into his bathroom and turned the shower on before stripping out of his boxers and stepping in the shower. When he started soaping up he noticed some bruises he hadn't seen before on his shoulder and stomach. He wondered how he could've gotten them before shrugging it off as a wild dream. He must've moved around a lot and bumped it on something. It also explained his fatigue.

He got out of the shower and dressed. When he put his radio in his ear, someone was already trying to reach him. He missed who it was so he waited until the person tried again. He didn't have to wait long.

"Dr. Weir to Colonel Sheppard. Are you there Colonel?"

"Yes, sorry I didn't respond earlier. I didn't have my radio on yet. What's up?"

"I'm calling in all department heads for an emergency meeting in 15 minutes. I'll tell you then."

"Ok, I'll be there. Sheppard out." He wondered what the meeting would be about. Everything seemed fine.

He wondered into the meeting room a few minutes early, but Becket was already there, discussing something with Elizabeth. McKay entered seconds after him. They took a seat and waited till everyone arrived.

"Alright everyone, thanks for coming," Elizabeth began. "This morning at 0600 hours Sergeant Lewis found a badly injured lab technician who works under Dr Beckett. She appeared to have been attacked."

Carson took over, "aye, she was bruised badly. She has a sever concussion due to a small skull fracture. Someone must've slammed her into the wall, she also broke her nose because of that. She has a few bruised ribs as well and she's still unconscious."

"Obviously it's very important to find out who did this. We need to know if there's an intruder in Atlantis, or why one of our own expedition would do this," Elizabeth said.

"Who's the lab technician?" Sheppard asked, he liked to know who he was talking about.

"Sarah Nichols, she was taking your blood to the lab Colonel. That reminds me, I need to draw new blood. The vials were broken. Can you walk back with me when we're done here?" Carson answered.

"Sure. Meanwhile I think we should alert everyone not to walk around alone. I'll inform my men to look out for anything or anyone suspicious," Sheppard said.

"Yes, I think that's a good plan. We can't really do anything else until Nichols regain consciousness," Elizabeth stated. "Ok, that was it. Thank you for your attention."

When Carson was drawing blood from Sheppard he asked if the Colonel was getting enough sleep. "Ye look a bit tired, son."

"Yeah, I know. I guess I had a busy dream last night, probably tossed and turned a lot." He didn't tell Carson about the bruises since they weren't a problem.

"Ok. Let me know if ye're getting problems with that. I could give you something to help you sleep. I'm finished here, off ye go."

When he woke up the next morning he was sore and exhausted. Not a good way to start your day. He got into the bathroom and noticed he had even more bruises then the day before. His knuckles were bruised as well as the right side of his face. He could see a black eye starting to form.

His radio came to life just when he put it on. "Weir to Sheppard, do you copy?"

"Yes."

"There's been another attack, I'll need you here in ten minutes."


	3. Chapter 3

**POSTED**

Disclaimer: Nope, still don't own them.

A/N: Sorry for the long wait, I was/am very busy with school. I have a couple of days off now but there's still tons of stuff I have to do. Thanks for your patience.

And on another note, this is a WIP, so if you have any suggestions feel free to share them. I might add them to the story.

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Sheppard was the last to walk into the meeting room, everybody else was already there. But this time it was Dr. Biro who represented the medical department. He wondered where Carson was.

Elizabeth opened the meeting and informed them of the second attack and the victims. "Dr Beckett and nurse Bergen were attacked when they were walking to the lab early this morning. Bergen was knocked out immediately with a direct hit on her temple. Carson put up more of a fight since he has more bruises. They should both wake up soon though. That is why Dr Biro is here." Elizabeth turned to Biro and asked "is there any news on Nichol's condition?"

"She's doing slightly better, but shows no signs of waking up soon. That's probably better anyway. She'll heal faster if she sleeps."

They all sat in silence for a while, thinking the situation over when McKay suddenly snapped his fingers and exclaimed, "they're all medical!" When he saw the confused looks around him he sighed and explained, "the victims, they're all medical personnel. It aren't just random attacks. Has anything happened in the infirmary lately? Angry patients, anything?"

Biro answered, "no, this past week has been one of the calmest we've ever had. Only the Colonel came in for a blood test." Realisation downed and she added, "Carson and the nurse Denise were heading to the lab to test that blood. The vials were destroyed in the attack, again."

Everyone's attention turned to Sheppard and Elizabeth said "Colonel, I'm almost afraid to ask, but how did you get those bruises?"

"Bumped into something," he mumbled, wondering if he somehow had anything to do with the attacks. But if he had he must've been able to remember something, anything at all. "Look, I know what it looks like, but I didn't attack anyone."

"Ok, and we believe you Colonel." Elizabeth stated, looking around to make sure everyone understood. "We won't make any assumptions. We'll wait until nurse Bergen or Dr Beckett wake up, which should be soon, and then we'll catch whoever is doing this. That was it people. Thank you for coming."

Sheppard headed to the jumper-bay and happily noticed nobody was walking around alone, except for his own stubborn self. He was ready to fly out when he radioed Elizabeth. "Before I scare anyone, I'm gonna take a jumper out and fly around a bit before I pick Teyla up. Is that ok?"

"Yes, sure. Thanks for letting us know John. Don't go too far."

"I won't, mom. Sheppard out."

That was what he loved about Atlantis, he got to fly whenever he wanted. Within reason of course. When he'd decided to come here he wasn't even sure he'd ever fly again. Fortunately they'd found the jumpers. Life would've been boring without them.

In the air his mind wandered back to the attacks. Could he really have something to do with them? He was sure he didn't do anything, but he did have the bruises you had after a fight, and it was his blood they were bringing to the lab. But that could just be a coincidence, right?

He hope Carson would wake up soon, but he also dreaded it. What if Carson would confirm he was his attacker? And if he was, could Carson ever forgive him? More important, would he be able to forgive himself? He shook his thoughts away. 'Nothing's proven yet, John. Stay positive!'

He flew to the mainland and picked Teyla up. On their way back she spoke of her time with her people, all the while smiling. He was glad she had enjoyed herself, but was very surprised when she said, "also, I was there for the birth of a baby. The parents named him Taran John. They said it was their way of showing their gratitude for saving them from the Wraith, giving them shelter and protecting them now."

Her smile got even bigger when she saw him open his mouth and close it again, before finally saying, "wow… Cool!"

He sat the jumper down and he and Teyla went to the mess hall to have some lunch. They talked some about the training of the new recruits until McKay joined them as well. Then the conversation changed to the topic of food. Sheppard was surprised how much McKay like it. McKay was surprised Sheppard didn't. Teyla just listened to them.

"I'm serious McKay, how can you eat this… this, what is it anyway?"

"Does it matter what it is? I just like the taste of it, that's all that matters to me."

"Yes, it matters! I mean what if the cook decided to put some citrus in it, without you knowing it?"

McKay's fork halted midway to his mouth.

"You think there's citrus in this?"

"I don't know. I don't know what I'm eating. That's my whole point!"

Their banter was interrupted by Major Lorne and Ronon.

"Sir, can you come outside with me, please?"

Smiling at McKay's worried face, Sheppard said, "yes, sure. Come on McKay, if there really is citrus in it, you'd be dead by now."

When he stepped outside into the corridor he was greeted by the sight of Elizabeth and four marines. The marines surrounded him and when he turned around Lorne and Ronon closed in on him as well.

Angry, he turned to Elizabeth, "What the hell is this?!"

She just looked at him sadly when Lorne responded "Sir, hand your weapons over to me."

When he didn't move Elizabeth said, "please, Colonel, don't make this any harder. Let the Major do his job. Hand your weapons over."

She said it slow and clear, and Sheppard had no doubt it was an order. He slowly unholstered his nine mill and handed it over to Lorne, then he took his knife from it's holster in his boot and gave it away as well.

"Now turn around and put your hands on the wall, Sir."

He did so, again very slowly, showing he didn't agree with what was going on.

While one of the marines was searching him, he turned to Elizabeth again, "Wanna tell me what's going on now?"

"Carson woke up and-" Elizabeth was cut off by Rodney exclaiming "What the… Why are you searching Sheppard?"

Ronon was blocking everyone from leaving the mess hall to give the Colonel some respect, but groaned now McKay gave away what was going on. Since Teyla and McKay were on Sheppard's team he'd let them pass. Small mistake on his part.

"As I was saying," Elizabeth gave McKay a pointed look, "Carson just woke up. He was able to tell us who attacked him." She turned to Sheppard and looked him directly in the eyes, "He said you did it."

Sheppard just closed his eyes. His worst fear was now confirmed, he'd attacked people without remembering anything. When he opened his eyes again and looked at Elizabeth he sae all kinds of emotions on her face; confusion, determination to figure out what was going on, and what hurt him most, a small hint of fear and uncertainty.

"He's clean, Sir," the marine who was searching him said. He felt something metal snap around his wrist and closed his eyes again. This couldn't be happening. His hands were brought down behind his back and both his hands were cuffed.

"That really isn't necessary," he said.

"Sorry Sir," Lorne replied. He then grabbed his CO's upper arm and turned him around. In the background Sheppard heard McKay explain to Teyla about the attacks.

Elizabeth saw a flash of despair on Sheppard's face when he realized where they were going. She felt for him but didn't want to take any risks until they knew what was going on. She could not and would not believe Sheppard had just attacked those people. Something must be going on. And they were going to find out what it was. But until then they had to be cautious. That's why they were locking him up in the brig.


	4. Chapter 4

Disclaimer: Still don't own them. As if anyone thought I did.

A/N: I'm so sorry for the long wait. I've been extremely busy and when I _had_ the time I didn't work on my own fic, but read the fics of others.

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The brig was different from where they kept the Wraith. It was a small section of the city where there were several small rooms with force fields. Each room held a small bed, a table with two chairs and there was a toilet in a corner.

Sheppard and his escorts entered the first cell. He was sat down in one of the chairs and Elizabeth took the one opposite him. Lorne remained standing.

Sheppard shifted around under Elizabeth's gaze. The cuffs dug in his wrists and he wondered if they could take them off. As if Elizabeth read his mind, she said "Sorry Colonel. We can't take the cuffs off yet. We won't take any chances."

She took a deep breath and continued, "Do you have any idea what's going on?"

"No, I don't. You know I would **never** hurt someone just like that."

"I know. This is important Colonel, have you noticed anything strange about yourself these last few days? Like those bruises?"

"Just that after every attack I woke up tired, as if I hadn't slept at all." He snorted, "guess I was right about that. At the time I dismissed it as a restless sleep. After the first attack I had some bruises on my stomach and shoulder. This morning I woke up sore and with even more bruises on my face and my knuckles."

"This all started two days ago, did you do anything out of the ordinary Sir? Recount your day for us, Sir." Lorne said.

"I woke up, went for a run on the East Pier, then I had some breakfast. I went to the mainland with Teyla for a supply run, I did some flying around before I got back here, was summoned to Elizabeth's office. I had to run to play guinea pig for McKay, passed out while doing that, Carson took me to the infirmary and drew some blood. I grabbed some very late lunch, played some games on my laptop and had dinner. I wrote some reports and went to bed. That's it."

Elizabeth and Lorne listened intently and when he was done Elizabeth said "The only thing I can think about that sounds out of the ordinary is the testing with McKay. I'll order Rodney to find out everything he can about the device."

After some thought she added "and I want Dr. Biro to examine you. I'll send her here."

"Ma'am? From what I understand both attacks happened at night, while the Colonel should be asleep. I suggest we increase security around him at night. Maybe even some men in his cell to wake him up when something starts happening."

"Yes, good thinking Major. I'll get Biro." Elizabeth left, leaving just Lorne and Sheppard.

"I'm sorry this is happening Sir," Lorne said.

Sheppard sighed, "Yeah, me too. I supposes you can't take these off yet?"

"No, Sir. Not until after the doctor examines you."

Both didn't know what to say next so they waited for Biro to arrive in an uncomfortable silence. But to their surprise it wasn't Biro who walked into the cell nearly five minutes later. It was Beckett, a very bruised Beckett. His left eye and his nose were swollen, his lip was split and his whole face was more blue than the normal skin colour. Sheppard was shocked, did he do that?

"Ye can close your mouth now, lad." Beckett's voice broke through his reverie.

"Are you ok?" Sheppard asked quietly.

"Aye lad, I'll be fine. I see I left some damage too. Sit down on the bed for me, will ya?"

Sheppard did as he was asked and sat down. Carson noticed the cuffs and said to Lorne "can you take them off, I can't do much like this."

Lorne hesitated, then called for another marine to come into the cell as well. Lorne then approached the Colonel, who stood up and turned around.

As soon as the cuffs came off, Carson grabbed one of Sheppard's wrists and looked at the red area where the cuff had been.

"If it's still uncomfortable when I leave, I'll put some lotion on it."

For the next thirty minutes Sheppard was poked and prodded. Carson listened to his breathing and his heart, took his blood pressure and shone his penlight in Sheppard's eyes.

When Carson took some vials and said he was going to draw some blood, Lorne stepped in.

"Wait! Sergeant, keep a very close eye on the Colonel while the Doc draws his blood. If he moves, don't hesitate to make sure he isn't a threat, just don't use lethal force.

Colonel, sit down at the table, I'm going to hold you down when Doc does his magic. The blood was what started this whole thing in the first place," Lorne explained.

When Sheppard was sitting at the table again, Lorne took Sheppard's left arm and stretched it out, then moved his right arm under his left.

"Ok Sir, now lay you head down on the table."

When he did Lorne grabbed his left arm, pinning both his arms down. With his other hand he grabbed his CO's head and held that down as well.

When Sheppard felt Lorne press his head down, he closed his eyes. He felt humiliated and desperate. This wasn't the first time he was being manhandled, but it _was_ the first time his friends were doing it. How was he going to convince them it wasn't _him _who was hurting people? He hoped something was going to show up in his blood work, 'cause else he was screwed.

He felt the prick from the needle, and a few moments later Carson said, "all done. I'll let you know what I find. Those wrists still bothering ye?"

"I'm fine," came the muffled response.

Lorne was still holding him down since the blood wasn't safe in a lab yet. But he still had something to say to Carson, so he said "Carson wait!"

He heard the footsteps stop and asked if Lorne could ease up the pressure on his head a little. When Lorne did, Sheppard looked Carson in the eyes and said, "Carson, I'm so sorry I did that. Maybe one day you can forgive me. I'm sorry." He said it so soft Beckett almost didn't hear him.

"I know lad. I'll find out what's going on with ye." He then left. Sheppard noted how he didn't say anything about forgiving him.

"How was he?" Elizabeth asked Carson.

"He was very calm under everything, almost too calm. He just let it all happen, didn't make any comments. And he apologised for attacking me and asked if I was alright. He was very sincere. I don't get the impression that the John Sheppard we all know is consciously involved in this mess."

"But he _did_ attack you," Rodney stated.

"Aye, and I'm painfully aware of that," Carson said, while rubbing his face. "Have you had any chance yet to find out more about the device?"

"It's at the top of my priority list, but it's difficult because a lot of the Ancient writing is barely visible. It appears the device was used often and the writing faded. Give me some time and I'll be able to tell you everything you want to know."

Beckett, McKay, Lorne, Teyla, Ronon and Elizabeth were meeting and discussing the current situation concerning a certain Lieutenant-Colonel.

"Have your tests showed anything yet Carson?" Teyla asked.

"No, nothing out of the ordinary. I'm still waiting on the blood work though. I suspect something might show up on that."

"So for now we can't really do anything yet. Major Lorne, I want you to make sure Colonel Sheppard is as comfortable as he can get. If he asks for anything, give it. But make sure he doesn't get his hands on anything important to the control of the city."

"Yes Ma'am. I'd also like to post some marines in the Colonel's cell tonight. Maybe they can wake him up when something starts happening."

Elizabeth frowned, "I'm not so sure about that, what if Sheppard gets too out of control?"

"They have the right training and they wouldn't be carrying any weapons."

Elizabeth still didn't seem convinced, so Carson added his opinion. "It could help us understand what's going on and help Sheppard."

That did the trick and Elizabeth agreed.

The rest of the day past by uneventful for Sheppard. He'd asked for his book War and Peace and managed to make it to page forty-eight. He'd talked with his guards about football, and it almost turned into a heated argument. But before that could happen the guards were relieved when their shifts ended.

Rodney had brought him dinner and gave him some calculations to solve. Those kept him busy until he was tired enough to go to bed.

When he'd stripped to his boxers and a tee-shirt and lay down on his bed Major Lorne and Sergeant Stackhouse stepped into his cell. Seeing the confused expression on Sheppard's face Lorne explained "Just here to make sure you won't do anything crazy, Sir. We're here to wake you up if anything starts happening."

"Great. Well, I'd better get some sleep then and let you boys do your jobs. Night."

"Night, Sir," they replied in unison.

Lorne and Stackhouse were a constant reminder of why he was where he was. In the brig. His mind wandered and it took a while before sleep claimed him.

Four hours later Stackhouse was the first to notice that the Colonel started shifting around in his bed. He pointed it out to Lorne, but in a silent agreement they decided to wait it out.

Ten minutes later Sheppard was in almost constant movement and he'd managed to throw his blanket and pillow of his bunk. Suddenly he sat up straight and snapped his eyes open. He looked around the room and rested his eyes on Lorne and Stackhouse.

The eyes freaked Lorne out and told him something was completely wrong. Sheppard's eyes were wide open, but the pupils were very small, unseeing. The gleam in them frightened him.

"Colonel, can you hear me?"

The words seemed to snap Sheppard out of his trance. He charged forward and tackled Lorne to the ground, hard. But Stackhouse was paying attention and threw Sheppard off Lorne and into the wall. It wasn't enough to keep Sheppard down and he got up and charged at Stackhouse. He slammed Stackhouse into the wall, knocking the wind from him.

Lorne was on his feet again and lanced himself into Sheppard's back, driving both of them down, Lorne on top. He sent two punches to Sheppard's face, hoping to daze him. It worked just long enough for him to call for back-up. Stackhouse came over again, just as Sheppard started to fight again.

Lorne brought his knee down into his CO's stomach and Stackhouse tried to pin his arm down, but Sheppard was faster. He sent his fist into Stackhouse's nose and Lorne could hear the crunch when it broke.

Before he got the time to fully register what was going on, Lorne was flying through the room and into a corner. Sheppard was looming over him, but before he got a chance to attack a marine sent the butt of his gun down on the back of his head. The cavalry had arrived.

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Reviews _will_ make me type faster and more ;-)


	5. Chapter 5

Disclaimer: Don't own them, just playing with them. I promise to return them unharmed.

A/N: I know I promised to update faster, and believe me I tried. But people were determined to keep me from writing. First my family dragged me with them for a sailing trip. The next day it was Queen's Day, a national holiday here, so I had to celebrate that. Yesterday I met up with a friend, so I couldn't write either. The days before I did write, and I finished the update just now. I know you don't want to here all of this, but I'm truly sorry to keep you waiting so long.

A big thank you and virtual chocolates are being sent out to everyone who reviewed. Since the message bots weren't working I couldn't respond to them personally.

Oh and **CanadianHalliwell**: they didn't use stunners since Sheppard could've gotten his hands on one of them and stun all of them. I like it that you're really thinking with the fic, being critical is good!

I've kept you waiting long enough, if you even took the time to read all of this. On with the story!

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A marine made sure Sheppard was out cold before he helped Lorne to his feet. Stackhouse was being helped by some other marines.

"I guess it's safe to say the problem is sleep-related. Get Colonel Sheppard back on the bed and restrain him," Lorne ordered.

Lorne and Stackhouse went to the infirmary to get checked-out by Carson. Beckett sent Lorne off again after just a few minutes, Stackhouse took some more work.

At a more decent time Lorne told Elizabeth what had happened that night and she called a meeting. She asked Lorne to bring Sheppard to that meeting as well, feeling he should be involved.

When Lorne stepped into Sheppard's cell he found the man to be awake, but still restrained.

When Sheppard woke up he ached all over, especially his head. He went to rub his face, but couldn't lift his arms up. That confused his groggy mind, why couldn't he lift his arms? He lifted his head and noticed his ankles and wrists were restrained to the bed. He wondered what was going on but just then Lorne walked in and it all came back to him. Attacks. He'd attacked people. What had happened that night?

"What did I do this time?" He dreaded the answer, but he needed to know.

"First of all, everyone's alright, Sir. Stackhouse and I decided to see if what's going on is sleep-related. We're now pretty sure it is.

Dr. Weir is calling a meeting right now, she asked for you to be there as well. I'm gonna escort you there. I'm sorry Sir, but we have to take precautions."

When Lorne said that, a couple of marines came swarming into the cell, stunners drawn.

"I'm going to take the restraints off. When they're off, stay on the bed and don't move."

Sheppard did as he was told, not wanting to be stunned. He already held the Atlantis record for most stunned person. No need to make his head start even bigger.

When Lorne took the last restraint off, he backed away from the bed.

"Ok Sir. Now slowly get up and face that wall over there."

Again he did as he was told. The irony of the situation suddenly hit him and he smirked. He'd never followed any of his CO's orders this closely. Now he was doing _everything_ one of _his_ men told him to do.

He was facing the wall now and Lorne ordered him to intertwine his fingers behind his head. Then he proceeded to handcuff him, hands behind his back.

The walk to the meeting room was short, but it was a busy route so they came across a lot of people. Sheppard thought to himself he'd never felt so humiliated before. The only thing missing was the black and white striped outfit.

When they walked in everyone else was already there. There was only one empty seat so Lorne sat Sheppard down and then stood next to him. A marine stood at his other side. Elizabeth started the meeting.

"Colonel, we think we have a better understanding of what's going on now. Carson got the results of your blood work back and Rodney made some progress with the device. And I'm sorry, but the security is still necessary. Better safe than sorry."

"Yeah, I understand. So what did you find out?"

Carson spoke first, "there's an unknown substance in yer blood. Something I've never seen before. I'm pretty sure it's related to this bloody mess. I have no idea what to do about it though. The substance hasn't responded to any of my tests yet."

All eyes turned expectantly to McKay, who looked around and said with a smug look on his face, "so it's up to me to save the day again, huh?" Turning serious he continued, "I've been able to make out all the writing, so now it's only a matter of time before I finish translating. So far it appears to be some sort of data storage device, used in the Ancient version of law enforcement. I'll probably finish translating late this afternoon. I'll let you all know."

"Major, can you tell us exactly what happened this night? In details please, I'd like to know everything you know. It might give us some insight," Carson asked.

Lorne told them and when he was finished they sat in silence, thinking their options over. Eventually Sheppard surprised them by saying, "I think it'd be best if you lock me up again, at least until McKay finishes translating. I don't want to risk hurting anyone else."

"Oh, that reminds me," Carson interrupted, "Nichols woke up a few hours ago. She'll make a full recovery."

A smile appeared on Sheppard's face, "You have no idea how good it feels to hear that."

"No, we probably don't. But it's still good to hear. And I agree with you Colonel, I think it's best to keep an eye on you. But since we all agree this is sleep-related, I think it's safe to let you have visitors and allow you to go to a secluded balcony, with guards though."

An even bigger smile popped up on Sheppard's face, "Thanks!"

McKay suddenly snapped his fingers and exclaimed, "Beckett, do your voodoo tonight!"

A few seconds later it dawned on Carson what Rodney meant. "As sad as it is that I understand what you just said, I think it's a really good idea. I can't believe I didn't think of that!"

"Yes, well. Genius speaking, remember?"

Except for Carson and McKay, nobody knew what was going on, and it showed. Heads were turned to McKay and Beckett, like when watching tennis, frowns appeared on foreheads and several mouths hung slightly ajar.

As if explaining something to a bunch of toddlers, Rodney said "Beckett can monitor Sheppard while he sleeps. Maybe that will tell us some more."

Beckett nodded vigorously, "aye, it just might."

That night, it was busy in Sheppard's cell. Cramped even. His entire team, Elizabeth, Carson, two nurses and four marines were packed in the small space. He was hooked up to so many things he'd long ago lost count. Heart monitor, blood pressure cuff and so on. There were even some things he'd never seen before.

Carson attached the last machine and said "and now we wait."

But a marine stepped up with restraints. "Sorry Sir, but I have to restrain you." Sheppard saw the sense in that and let it happen. "_Now_ we wait," the marine said.

"Yeah, about that," Sheppard drawled, "I don't sleep really well with an audience."

Teyla understood and began ushering McKay and Ronon out saying they'd wait outside for a while, maybe leave when nothing happened. Beckett made his nurses wait outside, saying he'd call them right back if he'd need them. The marines all stayed, but Elizabeth stepped outside as well.

That still left five people, but five were better than eleven.

Sheppard shifted around a bit before finding a comfortable position with all the wires. He dreaded falling asleep, not knowing what he would do this time. But he trusted Carson, he'd find out what was going on. And he couldn't really hurt anyone with the restraints and marines. With those thoughts he felt comfortable enough to let sleep claim him.

The same thing as the night before happened. Sheppard started moving more and more, and finally bolted upright. At least, as far as the restraints would allow him.

Carson noted that Sheppard's brain pattern had changed. The low-level activity one had while asleep had suddenly begun to show the activity one had while awake. It was also a different pattern than normal. Taking the risk of sounding crazy, Carson carefully asked "who are you?"

Sheppard turned his head in Carson's direction, and began tugging on the restraints. When they wouldn't budge he started yanking his arms, frantically trying to brake free. When his wrists were red and chaffed he finally gave up.

Carson thought Sheppard hadn't heard him and was surprised when Sheppard suddenly said "I am Jolios. What is going on here?"

"We were hoping you could tell us, you took over Sheppard's body-"

Before Carson could say anything else Jolios exclaimed "it is mine now! This body is mine! I took it! You will not take it back from me! I am getting stronger, soon it will be my own and I will not have to share it anymore!"

Beckett and the marines were taken aback by that statement. The previous nights Sheppard, or Jolios, hadn't said anything. Jolios was indeed getting stronger.

The rest of the night Jolios continued raging against the restraints, telling them the body was his now, and yelling obscenities at them. But he said nothing useful.

Slowly Jolios became quieter and eventually lay down again. With one last look at Carson and the marines he said "I will return."

When it was clear Sheppard was Sheppard again and that he was sleeping peacefully, Carson muttered "well, that was interesting."

Two hours later Sheppard woke up. Carson slowly approached and the marines tensed up, ready for another round with Jolios if necessary. However it was really Sheppard this time. Seeing his wrists, Sheppard groaned and looked up at Carson. "Did you find anything out yet? This is starting to annoy me."

"Aye, we have. I'll tell ye everything in a briefing a few hours from now. Those wrists botherin' ya lad?"

"Yeah." That was kind of obvious since they were still slowly bleeding, staining the restraints and sheets. Carson and the marines didn't want to take the chance Jolios was playing with them so left them unattended until they were sure Sheppard was back again.

"Let me look at them." As Carson undid one restraint, the marines pointed their stunners at Sheppard. Carson bandaged both wrists, then freed Sheppard from all the machines he was attached to.

Carson then turned to leave, but remembered something. "Yer team and Elizabeth left to their quarters or where ever they went last night. They couldn't help you here so they left, feeling more useful doing other things. You'll see them and me again at the briefing, a few hours from now."

With that, Carson really left.


	6. Chapter 6

A/N: Thank you everyone who took the time to review. As you see I haven't forgotten about this story, hence the update. But life's been extremely busy. I promise the next update will come faster.

Special thanks to **dfbbear** for offering to be my beta! Thank you!

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"So Carson, what happened after we left?" Elizabeth asked. The briefing had just begun.

"I-" he was cut off by Rodney, who quickly said, "I can show you! After we were so kindly kicked out, I went to my lab and searched the Ancient systems. They have camera's inside those cells, completely with audio."

Rodney hurriedly typed on his laptop, then went to the back wall and activated a screen. He touched some controls at the side of it and the screen came fully alive, showing Sheppard talking to his guards.

"I'll fast forward until the actions starts."

As they watched what Sheppard had been doing all day, Sheppard said to Rodney "you know, I'd appreciate it if you don't watch all the footage, I'd like to pretend I have just a little privacy down there."

But Rodney didn't reply since he slowed the video down and they all watched as the Sheppard on the screen suddenly shot up and after some talking started to yell, "It is mine now!" They sat watching for some time until McKay said "you don't have to watch the rest, it continues on like this for hours."

"So what, I'm schizophrenic now?" asked a somewhat shocked Sheppard.

"Well, in a way you are." Seeing the glare on Sheppard's face. McKay quickly continued, "while you were Jolios, I did some more research. Jolios was one of the few criminals Atlantis had. Apparently he sabotaged workstations and made it look like the other scientists were incompetent and accidentally blew up their own workstations. His own work always remained untouched, so they were suspicious of him, but couldn't prove anything.

He got caught sabotaging by four scientists. He killed them all, and made it look like another accident. He thought he'd killed all of them, but one was still alive. He told the other Ancients it was Jolios who did this. Later they found all the evidence they needed encrypted on Jolios' workstation."

He paused to take a breath. "That's were the device comes in. It was decided Jolios had to stay confined for the rest of his life. However the Ancients found it inhuman to keep someone in their cells for years. Jolios's mind was… downloaded into the device. He would be allowed to return to his body when it was near death. But the Ancients left Atlantis and my guess is they forgot all about him. His life sentence was turned into 10.000 years," McKay snorted.

"And now there's no body for him to return to. After 10.000 years he grabbed the first chance he had and took over Colonel Sheppard's body," Lorne finished.

"So what do we do about it?" Teyla asked.

Rodney answered, "by the end of the day I'll have the device fully figured out. We can get Jolios back in the device then."

The loud sigh coming from Sheppard grabbed everyone's attention. "That's good, 'cause he's really getting stronger. At first I thought I was just having a headache, but now I know it's him. And I'd just about kill for a good night's sleep. No pun intended."

After a moment of hesitation, Sheppard quietly said, "I don't think you should let me out of that cell anymore. I don't want to lose control and hurt even more people."

That statement shocked everyone, Sheppard wasn't someone who easily admitted getting weaker, and not winning the inner battle he was fighting. However, Sheppard would do everything he could to protect the people he cared about; even if that required him to say something Sheppard didn't want to admit.

They all took a good look at him; Sheppard was right, he looked haggard, had huge bags under his bloodshot eyes and his five o'clock shadow didn't make him look any better either. His face was pale and sunken. This was going to have to end soon.

Rodney answered just as quietly "I'll be ready for you at four."

Teyla was the last to leave before Sheppard and his security escort. As she passed him she laid her hand on his shoulder and said, "be strong."

All alone in his cell, the real battle began. In the meeting he'd been able to concentrate on everyone around him. Fortunately Lorne was one of the guards on duty. He explained the need to distract himself from the presence in his head. Lorne quickly understood and began talking about missions, how he preferred baseball over football and how he liked surfing. He clearly chose subjects his CO had something to say about, and for that Sheppard was grateful.

Lunch was brought and they ate together, criticising the food. Before Sheppard knew it, it was four o'clock and the Major was escorting him to Rodney's lab.

As soon as they sat foot in the lab, McKay began explaining how he'd modified the device to take Jolios's soul in again. After a few moments Elizabeth, Carson and his team arrived as well, so Rodney started explaining again. Midway Sheppard stopped him, "Rodney, we're gonna have to do this **now**!"

"Oh yes, of course. Sorry." He made some final adjustments and said everything was ready.

After just a slight hesitation Sheppard touched the device. Everyone held their collective breaths as a white light enveloped the Colonel. After a moment the light died away and Sheppard said "I think it is done."

Everyone released the breath they'd been holding.

"Colonel, I want to check ya over in the infirmary. Then you'll have to go back to the cell, just to be sure," Carson stated.

"Ok, I can live with that."

Carson ran all kinds of tests on Sheppard, and the Colonel never complained once. Carson thought that was strange, Sheppard usually has something to say about the many tests. But considering recent events, Carson didn't pay any real attention to it, thinking maybe Sheppard felt as if he owed him something.

After the tests the marines escorted him back to his cell. Sheppard read some; he ate some and eventually fell asleep.

The marines were extra alert when Sheppard fell asleep. They radioed Beckett and he came in and monitored Sheppard's sleep. But after a few hours it became clear nothing would probably happen that night. Carson left, knowing the marines would call him if something were to happen.

Beckett got most of the test results back in the morning. He went over them and happily nodded. He then called Elizabeth to fill her in on the results, and together they went to inform Sheppard.

They entered the cell to find Sheppard eating a late breakfast. He smiled at them, "Good morning."

They greeted him as well and Carson started off. "I got most of yer test results back, Colonel. Everything seems clear. Yer brain pattern is normal again, and the strange substance in yer blood seems to be diminishing. All looks fine." He smiled at what he was going to say next.

"Elizabeth agreed with me that it would be okay to release ye to yer quarters. With guard at your door though."

"Great! Can I leave right away?"

"Yes, you can. But there are some conditions though." Elizabeth said. "You're to stay in your quarters until we say otherwise. And if you have visitors, no more than one at the same time and with a guard present. Is that understood?"

"Yes Ma'am."

Again the acceptance Carson had seen in the infirmary. He frowned over it, but didn't comment on it. Carson would wait it out.

Alone in his quarters, Sheppard walked into the bathroom. He stood in front of the mirror and thought 'I could have done worse. This body is nice, athletic and strong and with the ATA gene flowing through this body I will be able to do things and marvel all those around, especially Dr. McKay.'

_And it's mine! Now get out of it!_

By all that is sacred, this soul was strong. It kept nagging him, always trying to get it's body back. Well he wouldn't get it. He'd been floating around in nothingness for around 10.000 years, now he finally had a body he wasn't going to let it go.

_Look, maybe we can work something out. I get my body during the day; you get it during the night._

'I do not think so human. I have better use for this body, I am more worthy than you are and ever will be.'

_That so huh? Well just so you know, I'm not going down without a fight._

He had noticed that already. According to his calculations and estimates the human should've already given up a day ago. But he was fighting for everything he was worth and was partially successful. However now he had all power over the body, the human's spirit was only a presence in his head now. Like he had been in the human's body just days ago.

The device had given the body a hit, and he had taken his chance. While the human was trying to overcome the sudden onslaught, he took advantage of the sudden weakness. After just a short battle of wills where the human had to choose between allowing his body to survive without his soul, or letting his soul die with his body.

Jolios knew the human had chosen to let his body survive without him in control in the hopes that his friends would figure everything out, but that didn't bother him. Jolios was certain they'd be unsuccessful.

_I wouldn't count on it; they're smarter than you give them credit for._

'That is where you are wrong human; I have access to all that is you. Over the past few days I have learned all of how to be Colonel John Sheppard. I know every moment of your life; there is no way to trip me up. I am also exceedingly intelligent and I know that I will be watched, your or rather I should say "my men" are not totally convinced that Jolios is gone. But over the next week or so as I take over your life your men will be convinced that I am John Sheppard.' Jolios hoped the human soul would soon realize he couldn't win this battle and that resistance was futile.

The human made a snorting sound. _Watched too many Star Trek episodes, did you?_

It took a few moments for Jolios to understand the human's remark, but then even he had to laugh at the Borg reference. Jolios liked this human's sense of humour; at a different time we might have been friends. But for now Jolios thought about all the things he could to shut the human up without hurting the body too much. It still had to be able to function. He had some devices in mind he could use. It'd be interesting to see how the human would react.

Sheppard felt trapped in his own body. It didn't listen to any of his commands. He couldn't even scratch his head if he wanted to. It was frustrating.

Sheppard had one advantage over Jolios; he knew what of Jolios' plans. If Sheppard could gain control over his body again, even if just for a minute, he'd be able to tell his team. Sheppard would just have to wait and figure out how to get that control.

He decided to let his mind rest for a while. Maybe he could find out if Jolios had any weaknesses he could use against him.

He would have to wait for the right time, but patience never was a virtue John Sheppard possessed.

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Please tell me what you think! I'd appreciate it!


	7. Chapter 7

Everyone who took the time to review, thanks again! They're my driving force. I'm finishing this one up, only one or two more chapters to go.

Also, the next update may take some time to come. As the end of this schoolyear draws nearer, all of my teachers are desperate to let us make just one more test. Therefore I'm extremely busy these next few weeks.

Special thanks to **dfbbear **forbetaing.

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Slowly all things seemed to settle. Sheppard kept to himself in his quarters. He followed the rules that had been set for him and after three days of good behaviour he could have as many visitors as he wanted and without a guard present.

Beckett still came in and checked Sheppard daily. Carson still wasn't as comfortable as he used to be around the Colonel, but trust had to be earned again. Nichols was on the road to recovery and the nurse was working again.

McKay used the time off from gate travel to study the Ancient database and test artefacts. Teyla visited her people and trained with Ronon. Ronon also trained with the new marines. Most of them still thought they were invincible, until they were shown every corner of the gym by Ronon.

On the fifth day after Sheppard was released to his quarters, Rodney stormed in. "You have got to come with me and activate this console. I think it's something the Ancients used to study the aqua life. It's really quite fascinating; I think there are these censors-"

"Rodney, you know I can't."

"You can't? What's that supposed to mean? You lost your gene when you took a shower yesterday? Just washed it off?" Rodney raged.

'This human is used to getting his way, interesting.' Jolios was annoyed by the man. McKay thought he could just waltz into these quarters and that Sheppard would do anything and help his teammate out. The human was too soft.

_I heard that!_

Yes, the human was still present in his head, and Sheppard was taunting him everyday. The man's mental strength certainly was remarkable.

With patience Jolios didn't feel he answered, "No Rodney, if you have not noticed I am still confined to my quarters."

In his enthusiasm, Rodney had forgotten. But he wouldn't admit that of course. "I know. But I'm sure I can convince Elizabeth to let you do this."

Ten minutes later Rodney walked into Sheppard's quarters again, this time with Elizabeth in his tow. The scientist started talking the second he walked through the door, "I've cleared it with Elizabeth. If we have two guards with us it'll be fine. You have got to see it! I'm sure I'll be able to get it to function. We could finally find out if this ocean surrounding us is as safe as it looks."

"Hey, if it is, maybe we could surf!"

Jolios knew everything about the Sheppard, so he also knew Sheppard loved to surf. Plus this was exactly the kind of comment Sheppard would make, for Jolios knew how Sheppard thought.

"Yes, we could surf," McKay looked annoyed, "I should've known that's all your stupid Neanderthaler-brain would think about. Nothing scientific would even cross your mind."

Jolios was angry at Rodney for saying such a thing, but after almost a week as Sheppard he knew how to answer this man. "Hey, I am not stupid! I could have joined MENSA, remember?"

"Yes, you could've. But you were _stupid_ enough not to join!"

Elizabeth took over before things got out of hand. "Gentlemen, be nice. Colonel, after you've helped McKay you're to return to your quarters again. If everything goes well, we might release you in a few days."

"That certainly is good news! I will behave, I promise."

"You'd better," Elizabeth replied with a twinkle in her eyes.

The room Sheppard and McKay walked into clearly had suffered water damage. The walls had a green taint and you could smell the salty water. While Sheppard looked about, McKay told him they'd found the lab a few weeks back, but they'd only gotten around to take a good look at it the day before.

"So what is it you want me to do?" Jolios asked, bored by McKay's explanation when Rodney began talking about how the console worked, Jolios knew that already.

"Right, touch this here," Rodney pointed to a handprint.

Jolios knew that wouldn't get the console to work, but if he ever wanted to be able to leave he had to keep his cover. So he touched it and tried not to laugh at Rodney's disappointed expression.

He let McKay fool around a bit, but after half an hour he'd had enough and said "maybe you should activate that console over there first," he pointed to a console behind McKay. "They look related."

Rodney took a look and had to agree with Sheppard, the two consoles were almost identical. McKay tried to activate it, but it did nothing for him.

Jolios walked over and lightly touched the console, which lit up like a Christmas tree. 'The joys of having this body,' he thought to himself. It was able to interact with the city on such a high level. He hated to admit it, but from what he'd learned from Sheppard, Sheppard was better able to interact with the city than Jolios had been.

Rodney in the meantime had figured out that the two consoles were indeed linked. One wouldn't work without the other. But since he couldn't activate one, they needed another strong gene-carrier. Beckett.

McKay radioed him and after some bribing got Carson to agree to at least to visit the room. Ten minutes later Carson walked into the room. The first thing he asked was "I won't blow anything up, right?"

McKay was quick to reassure him, "no, no. It's perfectly safe."

Jolios and Beckett were able to get both consoles to work, but that was it. After Rodney had looked at all possible reasons, he concluded that the water had affected the crystals, but he would be able to fix it.

After two hours, Jolios became impatient and said, "You should replace some crystals in that console over there, not just move them around. In that cabinet you can find a couple of replacements."

Rodney and Carson stared slack-jawed at Sheppard, wondering how the hell he knew that. Nevertheless, Rodney did as Sheppard said, and everything finally worked.

"How the hell did you know that?" McKay questioned.

_Oops, that was stupid._

'Shut your mouth, human.' However, Sheppard was right; his impatience had gotten the better of him. "I read about this lab in the Ancient database," Jolios tried to save himself.

Slowly, the dots were getting connected in Rodney's head. Sheppard couldn't read Ancient. Jolios had never left, just taken complete control over Sheppard's body. But then Jolios would know Sheppard couldn't read Ancient. Therefore Sheppard must still have a small form of control.

Trying to keep his revelations to himself, Rodney said "Ok, well that certainly helped. But I think we should call it quits for today. We've been at it for hours."

Beckett finally figured it out as well, but he wasn't able to keep his face in check as well as Rodney. A look of horror crossed his face, just as Jolios looked his way.

Jolios realised that they'd somehow figured out he was now in full control of Sheppard's body. He'd seen the look on Beckett's face, and the doctor wasn't that afraid of Sheppard, even after he'd hit him.

The guards realized something was wrong, but they were too slow to pick on what. Before they knew what had happened, Jolios had knocked them unconscious.

McKay and Beckett were slowly backing away towards the door, but made a run for it when Jolios moved to pick up one of the stunners the guards carried. Jolios left the stunners for what they were when he saw them running, and headed after them. Because Sheppard was in top condition it didn't take long for Jolios to catch up with them.

Jolios moved his arm into a strike position, but when he moved his hand downwards it suddenly stalled in midair.

"Beckett, McKay, it's me Sheppard. I don't have much time, Jolios is going to make a run for it with a jumper. You have to close the jumper bay before he reaches it!"

In the moments in took for Rodney and Carson to realize it truly was Sheppard, Jolios had taken control again. He ran away from them, knowing that leaving in a jumper was going to be impossible now.

Sheppard had known he had to act fast. He'd gathered all his strength and taken control over his own body again. He knew it would only be for a short amount of time. But he had to stop Jolios from leaving Atlantis by jumper, or else he'd be trapped in his own body for the rest of his life.

Thankfully McKay and Beckett seemed to quickly realize it was him. But now Jolios was raging against him, threatening all kinds of unpleasant things. Sheppard let it all wash over him, but didn't worry. Carson and Rodney would figure everything out. He'd only have to hold on a little longer.

Rodney radioed Elizabeth the moment Carson and he ran around a corner. "Elizabeth, we have a big problem, as in really huge. Jolios was fooling us; he is still in control of Sheppard's body. But Sheppard's mind is still in there somewhere, 'cause he managed to warn us that Jolios would be trying to get away in a jumper. You need to put a lockdown on the city and get the marines to find him." Rodney took a deep breath since he'd rushed all that out in just one.

It took Elizabeth a while to process everything Rodney had just said, but then she immediately gave the order to put the city in a lockdown. She told Rodney and Carson to meet her in the conference room, and summoned Lorne there as well.

Ten minutes later they had agreed on which approach to take, and every military person was looking for Jolios.

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	8. Chapter 8

A/N: As you see I haven't forgotten about this one, even though it's been a month since my last update. I'm terribly sorry for that! I tried to make up for it with an extra long last chapter.  
School's out now, so I'll have much more time to write. Updates should come faster now.

Thanks to **dfbbear** for betaing!

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Jolios was running as fast as his legs could carry him. Because of the lockdown the transporters wouldn't work so he had to walk every where. He'd managed to grab a life signs detector from a scientist who'd been walking around in the corridors, wondering what was going on. Jolios was still heading towards the jumper bay, hoping he could use a route and entrance the humans were still unaware of.

He still had to deal with Sheppard; it had surprised him the human was able to gain control again, even if it was only for a few seconds. Jolios had a device in mind he could hopefully use to weaken Sheppard a little more. He'd make a little detour to the room where the device was hopefully still stored.

_They will find us, you know that right? _

The human was being vocal again, after the silence that had left Jolios to believe Sheppard was too weak.

'It is foolish of you to have such faith in others.'

_Maybe it is, but I'd like to call it a mutual interest. They save me this time; I'll do the same for them next time. I'd like to believe it's friendship._

'Still, you are stupid to depend on others to save your life.'

_Are you encouraging me to take matters into my own hands?_

You could try, but you would not succeed,' Jolios said confidently.

"I don't understand, I thought Jolios would disappear when we would use that device again," Elizabeth said, silently wishing for a good answer from Rodney.

"Yes, that's what I thought too. I'm not totally sure yet, but I think it had something to do with the weakened state Sheppard was in. The first time we activated the device, Sheppard passed out. My guess is that the one in control of the body gets a hit by the device, that causes him to weaken and then the other can take over. But the first time Sheppard was strong, and Jolios weak since he'd just spend 10.000 years doing nothing. Therefore Jolios only had a small form of control during Sheppard's sleep.

The second hit made him have total control. So if we hit him again Sheppard should be able to get control back. If that doesn't work we could do it again, twice should be enough."

What McKay didn't say was what they could do when it wouldn't work. They all knew this was their only chance.

"It makes sense. So if we want to get Sheppard back, all we have to do is get Jolios to activate the device again? Maybe twice?" Elizabeth asked Rodney.

"I think so, but the real question is; how do we get Jolios to do that?"

That was the question neither of them had an answer to. Yet.

Jolios used a manual override to open a door and ran into the room that held the device which would teach Sheppard his place. He looked around, trying to find what he was looking for. Not seeing it right away, he opened some closets and drawers and rummaged through them. Finally finding the square box he was looking for he told the human, 'You will not try to stop me again, this will teach you your place!'

Jolios took a syringe out of the box and then injected himself with some chemical. He then held the device to his temple; he felt a tingling sensation spread through his body. He smiled, knowing it was far worse for the human.

Sheppard felt as if his whole body was on fire. It was as if electricity was coursing through every nerve ending. He screamed in agony, but he knew he was the only one who'd hear. He screamed until he was out of breath. It was strange; he had no control over his body, so how the hell could he hurt so much?

Then the pain suddenly stopped and Jolios was speaking to him. 'If you go against me again, human, I will not hesitate to use this again. It may cause me discomfort, but I know the agony you must feel.'

Sometimes silence can be a strong weapon, and Sheppard made use of it now. His silence was his defiance, but he hoped Jolios would see it as cooperation. Apparently, he did.

The marines had decided to split up in groups of three when they started searching. Teyla, Ronon and Lorne formed a group together. So far they'd encountered several life signs. But when they found the person the dot belonged to, it turned out to be a scientist who'd been in the corridors when the lockdown took place. None of them had seen any sign of Sheppard.

The dot on the LSD they were tracking down right now had their full attention. It never moved, which was odd.

As they rounded the corner to the hallway the person was supposed to be in they saw nothing. But a closer look revealed a pair of feet sticking out from behind a crate. It was an unconscious scientist. The man was already trying to wake up on his own; he groaned and twisted his head every now and then. Lorne helped him further along by gently slapping his face. The man groaned even more and opened his eyes to slits. He immediately closed them again, bringing his hands up to his head.

The man looked familiar to Lorne, but he couldn't put a name to the face. Teyla made him asking redundant by speaking first.

"Dr. Leidell? Are you alright?"

The man only grunted in response, but he did open his eyes again.

"Can you tell us what happened to you?"

Leidell seemed confused for a moment before he answered. "I was just going to the lab when the lockdown took place. I was trying to go to my quarters, but all of the sudden someone hit me on the back of my head. I went down and was turned around by Colonel Sheppard. I thought he'd come to help me, but then he started to search me. He found the LSD I'd just repaired, turned to leave, turned back again and hit me again. I guess I must've passed out then." After some hesitation the Doctor asked, "Colonel Sheppard isn't dangerous, right?"

Teyla was quick to reassure to man. "Colonel Sheppard isn't. But he's not in control of himself, someone else is. I can tell you now the Colonel will be very sorry for hitting you."

Ronon now realized what the reason was they had such a hard time catching Jolios: the LSD.

"Did you see which way he went?" he asked.

"He turned in that direction," the scientist pointed down the corridor.

"Thank you doctor," Teyla said. She looked up to the other men and said, "you should go find him, I will stay here and look after dr. Leidell."

Lorne and Ronon nodded before quickly running in the direction Leidell had pointed.

Ronon was in his element: he was tracking another person while he wasn't in any real danger himself. The fact that his opponent was skilful was an added bonus, he like a challenge. He went as fast as he could, feeling like he owed it to Sheppard to hurry. The man had saved him from an unwanted life, but one he couldn't escape from.

For seven years he couldn't make any friends, nor have a place to call home. But then Sheppard came and trusted him, even though Ronon had held him at gunpoint just moments before. He would do whatever he could to help Sheppard, no matter what.

Ronon ran through hallways as fast as he could, trying to catch up to Jolios before he could disappear on them again. Lorne was behind him, doing a good job on not lagging behind, like most people would considering Ronon's pace.

However, they had a common goal which drove them both to push past their limits.

Jolios noticed two humans were catching up on him. He cursed the fact that the device which he'd used to control Sheppard had also weakened him a bit. Not enough to make him give up, but enough to let the humans catch up a bit. But it didn't matter, his head start was big enough to ensure his safe arrival at the jumper bay. Once there, he'd be free to go where ever he'd want.

He ran on for about five more minutes, all the while keeping his attention trained on the LSD. The dots were gaining ground on him, and fast. But Jolios had almost made it to his destination. He turned a final corner, only to stop dead in his tracks.

The whole hallway and entrance to the jumper bay were blocked by debris and clearly had water damage. He realized he had to move and think fast if he wanted to get away from the humans.

Seeing that there was only one way to head in the maze the corridors were here, Ronon and Lorne had abandoned the LSD, now moving on pure instinct. They rounded a corner at full speed, but stopped when they saw the state this hallway was in. Realising Jolios couldn't have gone through the door, they started looking around. Their senses were on high alert, no sound or movement went by unnoticed.

That's how both of them turned when they heard a piece of metal hit the wall behind them. Nothing could be seen, but when Lorne moved to turn around again, he was hit on the head. Ronon noticed to danger and attacked as Lorne went down. It appeared that Jolios had thrown the metal high over their heads so he could make a surprise attack.

Jolios and Ronon circled each other, both trying to find an opening in the other's defence and both waiting for the right moment. Lorne, who was still on the ground, went unnoticed by them. He activated his radio, so that others could listen in on what was going on.

Lorne slowly got back to his feet. When he was stood straight again he asked Jolios "Still trying to get away in a jumper? You should know that's not going to work."

Elizabeth stood in the command centre when suddenly a voice was heard over the citywide communication net.

"_Still trying to get away in a jumper? You should know that's not going to work."_

"_And why is that?"_

Elizabeth recognized Lorne and Sheppard's voices. She that they must have been successful in finding Jolios, but why was Lorne on the citywide communication unit?

"And why is that?"

"You'll see. We're loyal to our military commander."

Ronon and Jolios were still circling each other, but Jolios attention was divided between Ronon and Lorne, who was stood to the side and talking to him.

"I didn't know there was an entrance to the jumper bay here in the west pier. You can imagine my surprise that it is on the second level. We should have found it earlier," Lorne said.

"There is a lot you do not know about Atlantis yet, and you may never know," Jolios replied.

"_I didn't know there was an entrance to the jumper bay here in the west pier. You can imagine my surprise that it is on the second level. We should have found it earlier,"_ Lorne's voice sounded.

Elizabeth shared a confused look with a technician before the proverbial light bulb turned on. "He's giving us information on where they are," she muttered.

"Sergeant Bates, get a team to the second level on the west pier, somewhere near the jumper bay!" she ordered, knowing he was in the same area.

She then radioed Rodney. "Rodney, I want you to get that device ready again, if I'm right it shouldn't take too long before Jolios will arrive. Also, make sure Carson is there. I'll be there shortly."

"Ok, we'll be ready!" Rodney answered.

The sound of boots on the floor distracted Jolios, and Ronon took advantage. He hit Jolios in the stomach and followed it up with a right hook to the jaw. Jolios went down, but immediately rolled away to a safe distance where he quickly got up again.

Together, Lorne and Ronon advanced on him. Jolios took a quick look behind him and saw he was coming up to a wall.

The arrival of Bates with the marines was the end of the brief lull in action. Lorne charged forward and tackled Jolios to the ground. But Jolios pushed up again, away from Lorne. However Ronon was there and he kicked at Jolios' knee, but missed. Jolios only lost his balance momentarily.

Sheppard was waiting for his chance. He hated what Jolios was doing to Lorne and Ronon. Fortunately Jolios was forced into defence. Suddenly he saw **the **opportunity he was waiting for. His body was down on one knee due to Ronon's kick and Lorne was trying to hit him in the face. Jolios was already moving out of the way, but Sheppard fought for control from Jolios and stopped him. He managed to turn his head towards the fist aiming for his head. His last thought was that this was gonna hurt.

Lorne aimed a desperate fist at Jolios' head, knowing he was going to miss even before Jolios began moving away. But suddenly the head turned towards his fist, and Lorne hit Jolios full on his temple, near his eye. Jolios went down and lay on the floor unconscious.

Lorne looked around a bit, seeing the surprised look on everybody's faces, which he knew he matched. "Well, that was easier than expected," he spoke.

"Dr. Weir, we have detained Jolios and are getting ready to transport him," Bates said into his radio. "We should be there in five to ten minutes." As he spoke his men came forward with a gurney. They strapped Jolios down and began the short journey to McKay's lab.

When they arrived everyone was there and everything was ready. Beckett immediately moved to Jolios and examined the shiner that already was starting to form. He looked up and asked no one in particular, "I take it he didn't go willingly?"

"Jolios didn't, but Sheppard did," Ronon responded. Seeing everyone looking at him he explained. "Jolios fought us, but at a certain moment he moved right into Lorne's fist. He was already moving away, when suddenly he turned right into it."

A look of horror crossed Lorne's face. "You're saying I hit my CO!"

He didn't have much time to think about it, because Rodney had everything ready. Beckett cracked some smelling-salts under Jolios' nose, who then slowly came back to consciousness. When he noticed where he was he snapped "what am I doing here?"

"We're getting Sheppard back. First, I'll ask nicely if you'd be so kind as to touch that device. But you'll probably say no, and that's where Conan here comes in," Rodney said.

Jolios seemed to ponder his situation for a while before he spoke.

"This might surprise you, but I will cooperate. I have come to realize this is not the world I know anymore. Things have changed dramatically in this universe.

Your Sheppard belongs to you. I have long forgotten what it is like to have true friends. Sheppard showed it to me again. He truly believed you would find a way to help him. And you never gave up on him. I admire your strong bond, and I realise it is not up to me to destroy it. Had you not caught me, I would have left. But now this is the best course to take."

Looking around him, Jolios saw surprised faces, but there was also a hint of respect to be seen. He knew he'd made the right decision.

"There is one thing I have to ask you though. I do not wish to spend the rest of all time like I did these last 10,000 years. Therefore I ask you to destroy this device. I realize you may find this strange, but my time of existence is long past due. It is however your decision, I can only ask you to grant me this privilege."

He saw the understanding on everyone, so without any further thought he touched the device. A bright white light enveloped Sheppard's body, concentrating on his head. After a few moments in suddenly turned off and Sheppard, -or Jolios if it hadn't been successful- crumpled to the floor without a sound.

Everybody was stunned until Beckett snapped them out of it by ordering some marines to get Sheppard to the infirmary.

It was in the early hours of the next morning when he woke up. The first thing he noticed was a steady beeping. He tried to scrub his hands over his face, but was stopped by something. Time to open his eyes then. The ceiling he could apparently also recognise in the dark told him he was in the infirmary. He'd spent far too much time flat on his back staring at it. Being in the infirmary also explained the beeping; a heart monitor. What had he done this time? He tried to move his hands again, but he still couldn't. Now he saw why; restraints.

Slowly he remembered again, Jolios.

He turned his head to his left and noticed a figure sitting slumped in a chair. He recognized the white coat, even in the dark. "Carson?"

The doctor immediately jumped awake. Noticing who had spoken he came over to the bed. "Colonel, how are ye feeling?"

"I'm good, slight headache, that's all."

"Good, if it bothers you, tell me." Carson said while taking his pulse, apparently believing his own touch over the machine. "So is this really Colonel Sheppard I'm talking to?"

"Oh yeah it is! But I guess it might take a while for everyone to believe that," Sheppard responded, tugging lightly on the restraints.

"Aye, but don't worry about that lad. It'll be fine," Carson said light heartily. He then proceeded to take some more tests. When he noticed Sheppard was fighting to keep his eyes open he stopped and said "go back to sleep, lad." And minutes later Sheppard did just that.

Lorne walked into the infirmary to get some Tylenol for his headache. He heard noises from one corner of the room, so he headed there.

Colonel Sheppard, his team, Elizabeth and Carson were all together and apparently Carson was informing Sheppard how he was doing physically. "The strange substance in yer blood is almost completely gone now. It was a chemical reaction from your body in response to the extra brain activity. Which has stopped as well, I might add. Everything is back to normal."

Just after he said that, every eye in the room turned to the restraints. Carson noticed Sheppard's mood darken and placed a hand on his patient's shoulder and said, "Remember what I told ye this morning."

That seemed to reassure Sheppard, he even got a wicked smile on his face when he saw Lorne. "Major Lorne, just the man I wanted to see," every head in the room turned to Lorne's direction.

"Hello Sir. Good to see you doing better," Lorne said, hoping his CO did not remember just how he'd gotten the nice shiner colouring most of his face.

"I understand I have you to thank for the nice colour variety on my face?"

Uh oh, no such luck. "Uh, sorry Sir. I… You… I had no other choice," Lorne stammered.

"You do realize it's not a good career move to hit your CO, right?"

Seeing how uncomfortable Lorne was getting, Ronon spoke up. "Quit playing with the poor man, Sheppard. You have only yourself to thank for your headache. What a warrior you are, turning right into a fist," the Satedan mocked.

Sheppard sighed with a look of fake hurt on his face. "Ronon! You're on my team, you're supposed to back me on this!"

Carson defused the situation by asking Lorne what he was there for. "Just a bit of a headache, Doc. I came to ask for some Tylenol."

"Let me see that head of yers then," Carson said. It didn't take him long to find the lump. "I see why that would hurt. When did ye get it?"

Looking to Sheppard as he replied, Lorne said, "I guess we're even, Sir."

Sheppard looked very regretful, so Lorne added "I won't be sorry for hitting you, if you don't feel sorry for hitting me."

At Sheppard's nod, Rodney muttered, "hmpf, military logic."

Sheppard was standing on a balcony with the device in one hand, and Ronon's stunner in the other. Everything was slowly getting back to normal again. People no longer stared after him every time he passed them. His idea to discipline those marines would further help to convince people he was himself again.

He had just one more thing to take care of before this whole ordeal became just another part of his past. He'd heard everything Jolios had said, and in a weird way he felt thankful to the man. In the end he had chosen to do the right thing. Without further hesitation he threw the device into the furthest corner on the balcony and walked to the opposite corner. He changed the setting on the gun from stun to kill, -or in this case destroy- and fired.

Jolios was floating around in the vacuum-like space. Just as he was entertaining the thought that the humans would not honour his request, he felt his existence beginning to ebb away. He'd made the right choice. This human Sheppard was an honourable man, who deserved to live the life he was destined for.

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Thank you for being so patient with me! Virtual cookies and chocolates are being sent to each and every one of you, especially the ones who took the time to review; you can expect some hugs as well! This was the last chapter, but there's still **an epilogue to come**!


	9. Epilogue

A/N: Well, this is it. We've all made it to the end! Some of you may have noticed similarities with the show's episode "The Long Goodbye". Believe it or not, but that's pure coincidence. I didn't even know about that episode when I started writing this. I want to thank eveybody who read and escpecially those who took the time to review as well. It means so much to a writer to know what others think of their work. Also, I noticed that the (little stars) I used to distinct different scenes from eachother did not make it into the story lay-out, making it quite confusing. Sorry for that! Enough rambling, let's end this thing!

Special thanks to **dfbbear** for betaing!

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"Watch your defence!" Sheppard shouted. He winced as Lieutenant Davies was taken down by three big Athosian men. He and almost everyone else from Atlantis stood at the side of an improvised football field. Only a skeleton crew had remained on Atlantis; nobody wanted to miss this.

Most of the Athosians were there too, they seemed to be enjoying the game as well.

Not that it was a fair game, not at all. And if you had any respect for the game of football, your toes would curl. What was being played here was anything but football. The eight marines who'd been playing football in the hallways in Atlantis were up against twenty or so Athosian men and women.

The goal was to get the ball across the line, -in this case across the tree line- but it didn't matter how. There were no rules.

The Athosians were ruthless; they tackled every marine who had the ball for more than one second straight to the ground. What the marines didn't know was that Sheppard had told them to do so. He was sure the marines would never play careless again.

Elizabeth came to stand next to Sheppard. "Beckett will be busy when we get back," she observed.

"Hopefully with just some minor cuts and bruises to look over, I told the Athosians to have fun, but to also be careful."

"I think everybody is having fun. It was a good plan. Our people can bond some more with the Athosians; which is always good." Softer, she added, "It will also show everybody you're back to normal again; no one but you could come up with something like this."

Before Sheppard could reply four kids tackled him to the ground, including Jinto, who stood towering over him and was so enthusiastic, he was almost bouncing on his feet.

"Colonel Sheppard, can we play too? Please, Colonel! Can we play?"

Lifting his head of the ground Sheppard saw another three children standing behind Jinto. That made for seven kids who were eager to play; disappointment probably wouldn't be well received. Moreover, who was he to say they couldn't anyway?

"Sure you can, it's not like its football anymore anyway," he muttered. "But be careful ok? I don't need any angry parents because you break something."

The boys cheered and ran away, only to come running back when Sheppard stood again. "You have to play too!" one of the boys shouted, making it sound like an order to Sheppard. The other boys nodded enthusiastically. Before he could object the boys were pulling him along.

Sheppard saluted and said "yes, Sir!" as he was being pulled and pushed, which caused everyone to laugh. Not just the boys, but everyone; the game had been stopped for a while and the crowd was watching as well.

When Sheppard noticed everyone was having fun at his expense he turned to the marines and called, "I'll remember this when I'm making the new sanitary duty rosters!" That sobered them up a bit, but they still snickered. Even Sheppard had to admit, he would have been on the ground laughing if it had been his CO being pulled along by a bunch of kids.

The game had begun again and Elizabeth was watching with Halling and Teyla. "I hope you do not mind the boys. They can be a bit too… enthusiastic sometimes," Halling said.

Before Elizabeth could answer, Teyla already did. "I assure you, Colonel Sheppard does not mind at all. He is having as much fun as everybody else."

Suddenly everyone around them started hooting and cheering, drawing their attention back to the game. Sheppard had the ball, and had somehow managed to get a head start on the others. He was running as fast as he could towards the tree line, hard on his way to scoring a point.

Twenty-five or so Athosians were running after him. They were closing in on him, but Sheppard was getting closer and closer to the tree line. The cheering increased even more as Sheppard made it. He held the ball up in victory and started turning around. However, before he was fully turned, a dozen or so Athosians tackled him, jumping on top of him.

A big 'oooff' went trough the crowd, as people piled up on top of Sheppard. Only an arm was left to be seen.

"Yep, he doesn't mind at all," Elizabeth muttered.


End file.
